Family Matters
by krystal-cut-eyes
Summary: I was living a life of pure American Royalty, or at least as close as you could get. Then there was the Spring Break party in the Venetian with underage drinking that got most of the freshman class arrested. Mom won the battle against dad for my full custody, & I have to move to Japan & live with her new husband, my bitchy big sister & my new idiot stepbrother. Great. Just great...


**As always, I must start my fics with a chapter or two of the whole backstory bs before there is any interaction with canon characters. Please bear with me though! Hope you enjoy!**

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"Halfway through the second semester and you're still making the same mistakes Miss Marx," Ms. Carter scolds through grit teeth as she slaps my essay face down on my desk.

I groan and roll my eyes as I glance down at it.

I mean. What's the point of the whole face down thing anyways?

My poor essay (that I spent a total of eight stressful hours to write I may add) is bleeding red ink.

I swear it looks like Ms. Carter had a field day with it. Against my better judgment I flip through the pages, cringing even more with every line my eyes scan.

It looks like she criticized everything from my vocabulary to my choice of punctuation. Some of these things don't even make sense!

I slam the essay back onto my desk, pure unadulterated loathing building up inside me.

I'll bet she wasted an entire pen just branding the front page with 49/150 in big block letters.

I sigh and slump forward on my desk. This is what I get for signing up for Honors English. I should have listened to Cilla when she told me to just do the regular English course. I mean…I don't even know what possessed me to try it myself.

But since its way too late to pull out of the class, I settle for just stabbing Ms. Carter in the back with imaginary weapons.

"Hey, how'd you do?" Tia whispers as she leans over from the desk on my left.

"I'm going to kill her one of these days," I mutter back to her.

"Why what happened?"

"A fricken' 49/150!" I hiss angrily. "I could have used all the time I wasted on this project for band rehearsal!"

"Oh…sorry, I got a 148/150…" Tia replies before biting her lip. "Next time if you want I can help you."

"Sure," I mutter.

I glance back at Ms. Carter, who's making her way up the next row. She pauses at the seat to my right, giving the occupant a rare smile.

"Perfect as always, William dear," she says in a sickly sweet voice.

I turn to Tia, miming a gagging motion. She giggles and hid her face behind her paper. I snicker into my hand, biting down on my thumb a bit to keep from disturbing the class.

"Perhaps you could help Miss Marx out with some much needed tutoring sessions."

All amusement fades from my system as I gulp and turn to see Ms. Carter looking down at me with disdain plain on her face. The class erupts in laughter as she moves on, leaving William Anders flushed and hiding behind his thick glasses.

I glance over at William's desk, only wasting a second of my life being jealous of his 200/150.

"No, Ma'am, I'm helping her. No worries," Tia interrupts, trying to save face.

"It seems that your methods aren't working Miss Orville," Ms. Carter sighs as she continues to hand out papers. "Either that or Miss Marx's skull is thicker than her makeup."

"I could tell her a thing or two about makeup," I growl to myself over the howls of laughter erupting from the other kids. "Who mixes blue eye shadow with red lipstick anyways?"

"OLD SLUTS." Tia replies to my musings, much louder than necessary I might add, just so Ms. Carter will hear, as deaf and idiotic as she is.

I giggle, but its cut short as a note lands at the corner of my desk.

The William Anders tries to look nonchalant, and fails epically. I unfold it and stare at the tiny print in the center of the page. Seriously, if it wasn't in this fricken' fancy script I'd call it serial killer writing.

_Do you want to meet me in the library after school? I don't mind helping you out_.

I glance at the boy out of the corner of my eye.

William Andres is a small skinny beanpole with a mop of jet black hair and large turquoise blue eyes that hide behind a pair of thick wire glasses. His IQ is off the charts, and he pretty much sets the grading curve for all of us at Crosswell High School.

Teachers love him; the rest of the student body ostracizes him.

Though he looks modest and never boasts about his GPA, I can't help but wonder if he secretly looks down on all of us. That thought alone is more than enough of a reason to refuse lessons.

Besides, what do I need grades for? My dad is, arguably, the richest man in Nevada. I have my future set out on a fricken' gold platter, completely worry free and full of luxury. What does one year of failing English matter in the long run?

I scoff and toss my hair over my shoulder with a flick of my wrist, silently rejecting any ideas surrounding a study date.

Besides, when the bell rings in seven minutes, Spring Break will have officially started. An entire week spent lounging around my Nobu Penthouse Suite, roaming the various stores and boutiques of the Las Vegas strip with Cilla and Tia, and ignoring the wedding updates mom has been sending me every single day for the past three weeks.

Mom and dad split when I was eight. Mom got my older sister Sakurako and moved the two of them back to her parent's estate in Japan while dad got me and moved us to Vegas.

Now she's getting remarried to some stuffy well-to-do man. She's excited. He's the Chairman of some fancy Academy in Tokyo, and Sakurako will be getting to transfer there completely free of charge. She's been making such a big deal about how it was such a great opportunity and how I should consider taking a transfer and move in with them.

Well look at all the fucks I give not.

I couldn't stand being in the same country as Sakurako, let alone the same house.

Upon finishing reading another note hits me on the head. Only inside is a stick of hot pink gum and a familiar script.

_Yo there's this awesome party tomorrow. Be my date ya?_

I roll my eyes at Tia before grabbing my pen and flattening out the piece of notebook paper.

_Oh hun, you know I'd love to...but I do have a boyfriend you know_ I scribble back. _Tall...dark...handsome...Quarterback of our football team...any of these things ringing a bell?_

She frowns at my response and scribbles back a quick reply.

_Asshole who's grabbed my ass on multiple occasions, claiming to be friendly….And I can't be seen alone now can I ? I'm like 50% sure Cilla is grounded otherwise I'd take you both. P.S. That dick is not invited. Cool people only. Dress nice._

_We talked about that! He doesn't do that anymore. And since I have a real date, I'll be wearing my black Alexander Wang Suspension Pencil Skirt_ I write with a smirk.

_Aren't you fancy? And btw, your 'date' gives me the skeeves. C'mon it'll be fun, just ditch the loser already. It'll be a girl's night…sort of..._

I sigh for a second.

Maybe I should just go alone. After all, Chad did stand me up on the most important night of the year for us. Last night was our first anniversary, and he didn't even bother to tell me he couldn't make it.

He just never showed up. He left me sitting alone for three hours waiting inside a lonely corner of Alize, sipping cold coffee and scarfing down a whole basket of sliced baguette in a shadowed candlelit corner. So if I can't even count on him to show up for an anniversary dinner what makes me think he'll do it for this?

Maybe I do need a night with just Cilla and Tia.

_Fine...if it's just a girl's night then I might downgrade to a pair of flannel pajama pants and a tank top._

Tia scans the note before exhaling heavily and picking up her pen to respond.

_Dude wear whatever, but it's a pretty high class event. Cocktails, hot guys in tuxes, etc. It's at the Venetian_.

I groan as I scrunch my fingers into the roots of my pink and blonde bangs.

_*SIGH* that is not a girl's night out in my opinion...I'll keep the dress then._

Tia makes a big show of rolling her eyes and tosses the paper back on my desk in a minute.

_Fine…Girl's night with no guys. No pajamas. Keep the skirt._

I silently fist pump in triumph and wink at her. She just gives me one of her signature 'whatever' looks before resting her cheek in the palm of her hand.

A thought strikes me as she trills her lips softly. I scribble another note under the last one and pass it back to her, ignoring Ms. Carter as she begins to lecture.

_I also wanted to let you know I had the beginnings of a new song I wanted to show you and Cilla._

Her eyebrows rise slightly as her bites on the tip of her pen.

_K. Cool. I'll drive you home if you want. You can show me then. _

The bell rings right then, and the class roars and burst out of their chairs, scattering papers and junk everywhere. But before the bottleneck jam that usually forms on the rush to leave Ms. Carter's room has time to surface, about thirty different ringtones go off, Sherlock style.

**Spring Break Masquerade Bash at the Aria Hotel curtsey of the Student Body Council. Tonight 7:00pm. All are welcome. Masks required.**

"Well, looks like my plans for tonight have changed," I muse before turning to face Tia. "Where are we shopping? I have absolutely nothing to wear."

"Crystals. Definitely," she say without missing a beat.

"Lead the way, dear," I say with a dramatic flourish of my arms. "But we need to find Cilla first."

"She says she's waiting for us downstairs at the usual place," Tia says as she checks her phone.

"OK," I sigh as I begin to pull my hair into a ponytail. "So about this new song. I don't think that the rhythm is exciting enough. I'm kind of having a creative block and it kinda became a ballad."

I pulled my bag closer to my side as we walk down the halls and began hunting through it for the stack of sheet music. My heart faltered for a second as I search every folder and come up empty handed. It's not here.

I swear under my breath as I begin to panic. Sure it's not my best work, but it's the best thing I've managed to write in a few days…

"Oi! Guys, wait up!" Cilla shouts from the end of the hall as she runs to us with a smile on her face, her chin length hair bouncing around her heart shaped face. "So about this party, are you guys excited? I can't wait to break in these new shoes I've been saving for something like this!"

She brushed her wild ginger and black dip-dyed bangs out of her face as she spoke. Her green eyes were lit up with excitement, almost like Christmas came early and would last for a week.

"Who let her have coffee?" I groan as I observe her infectious happy aura.

"It was just one cup," she whines as she rolls her eyes. "I woke up late again, it's not my fault my stupid alarm is broken. Seriously though, are we going to Crystal's to get dresses or…? Because I don't have anything."

I grab the skin of her cheeks and pull them lightly. She sticks her tongue out at me from between her stretched burgundy lips.

"Calm down hun…" I command with mock authority as I force her to look me in the eye. "Yes we're going shopping, but first I need to find my song."

"Which song is missing?" Cilla asks, shrugged off the comments. "Is it one of ours?"

"Obviously," Tia sighs.

"Well, I kinda wrote a new song during my free time after my Algebra test," I explain as I give up looking in my bag. "I was fixing the drum solo in the choir period after my quartet test and-" I broke off abruptly as the thought crossed my mind. "IT'S IN MY FOLDER!

I thrust my bag into Cilla's hands before turning on my heel and nearly sprinting down the hallway.

"I'll meet you guys in the usual place ok!?" I yell over my shoulder.

I don't wait for an answer before I take off, hoping the room will still be unlocked. Luckily the school is almost empty and I should be able to make it back to the choir room in record time. But I'm just making my way across the muddy quad as a strong pair of hands yank at my wrist.

I stifle a shriek of surprise as I topple over, but a pair of muscled arms catch me before I hit the soggy ground. I know who it is without looking behind me, and I'm not in the mood to deal with him right now.

"Hey beautiful," a husky voice whispers from above me.

"Hey forgetful," I banter back, sarcasm heavy in my voice as I put myself back on my feet.

"Babe, I didn't forget," Chad insists as he runs a hand through a few strands of my long bottle blond hair. "Coach called an emergency practice. I had to."

"Yeah… Whatever," I mutter as I flicked my hair away from him. "And you couldn't spare a single second to text me?"

"C'mon. I'll make it up to you I promise," Chad murmurs as he pulls me into a kiss that I can't quite pull away from.

I remain motionless and refuse to reciprocate, hoping to get my point across. He doesn't get it.

When I'm released, I cross my arms and stare at him.

He crosses his arms childishly across his broad chest and flips his sun bleached chocolate brown hair out of his hazel eyes. I glare back at him, but considering I only stand at five foot two and he stands at five foot seven, I don't think I look very intimidating to him.

"Babe I'm really sorry," he says as he steps towards me.

"That's what you say every time," I snap back. "This is what? The eighth time you've stood me up in the past two months? Sometimes I wonder if this is just all a game to you!"

I turn to leave, anger continuing to radiate off me in waves. Why do I keep forgiving him? I should have saved myself the trouble and broken off our relationship months ago. It's a wonder we've lasted this long anyways.

"Avery wait," he calls as he grabs my wrist.

My chest squeezes painfully at the way my name rolls off his tongue. The tension in my body lessens and he steps up behind me.

"I'll make it up to you. How 'bout we hang tonight? We can do fun stuuuff," he drawls as he pulls me back against his chest, his voice resonating from my neck and up to my ear.

He leans forward to kiss my neck and my anger sparks again. I push him away as hard as I can with one hand while guarding the skin of my neck with the other. Now he's just pushing his luck.

"Even if I wasn't mad at you the answer would still be no," I growl at him before whipping around.

"Fine," he mumbles childishly. "But we can still hang out."

"Can't," I call over my shoulder as I begin walking away. "Oh look, I bothered to tell you in advance. That was sooooo hard."

"Why not?" he whines as he begins to trot after me.

"I have a previous engagement," I say vaguely as I begin to pick up my pace. "Maybe I'll think about going out with you over the break if you stop standing me up."

I hear his footsteps fade and I continue on to the choir room.

The nerve of some guys. Just because he's my boyfriend doesn't mean he can do whatever the hell he wants…

I fume silently to myself as I continue walking, my feet making harder contact with the asphalt than necessary. Now that no one is around to see, my cheeks flame heavily.

I press my palms to my face, hoping to cool them down. But it's mostly done in vain. I eventually give up and just drop my hands, letting my head hang and my bangs fall over my eyes.

Jerk…

I step into the hallway of the Arts Department and head to the second floor. My footsteps echo loudly, emphasizing the silence around me. I exhale heavily as I walk down the hall, but the silence is broken by the sound of a piano.

Well, good news for me, the room is still open.

I pause outside the doorway to listen. The song is lighthearted...and so familiar…

And then I realize...it's mine.

I ease the door open to see William Anders sitting at the piano bench, deeply engrossed in the sheet music in front of him. His hands fly over the piano keys, hitting every note perfectly, as though he's played this song for years.

As much as I hate to admit it, I could listen to this forever.

I close my eyes and lean against the door, unconsciously humming along. The song has no lyrics yet, but ideas come flooding to me quickly, completely eroding away the wall of my creative block.

But my muse comes to a jarring halt as the next measure of notes is fumbled.

"Dammit!"

The rest of his curses are muffled by the door, but even muffled his sounds of frustration are impressive. I'm personally surprised he knows how to swear. He's always seemed like a well-mannered overly sheltered mama's boy to me.

I glance through the small window to see him leaning over the large white piano. He pulls off his glasses and sets them down near the music stand before raking tense fingers through his hair. It takes me a full minute to realize I'm staring.

I guess I've never noticed before…I mean his glasses are always are always blocking them, but his eyes are really stunning. Almost the same shade as raw blue topaz.

I shake myself out of it before taking a breath and stepping inside. He doesn't seem to notice me at first, and tries to start again four measures before the tricky key change I wrote in. He fumbles again and he puts his head in his hands and slams his elbows down on the keys, creating a starling diminished chord.

His frustration is amusing, but also somewhat cute. So I decide to shove aside everything I originally thought about him and take a risk.

"I had a tough time with that part too," I admit as I walk over to the piano.

William jumps a foot in the air and whips his head around, fixing me in a wide-eyed stare with those captivating irises.

I giggle as I stop next to him. He's flustered and flushed, and his reaction only serves to fuel my peals of laughter. I slide onto the bench next to him, ignoring his surprise.

"Here," I say, placing my fingers on the keys. "It's actually easier than it looks. Just watch my hands for a second."

He manages a nod and slips his glasses back on. I turn my attention back to the keys. I take a quick glance up at the sheet music and decide to come in two measures before the troublesome key change. I play through it once before turning back to him.

"Alright," I say as I turn to him. "Now you try."

He nods and bites his bottom lip before turning back to the keys. He starts in the same place I did, and makes it halfway into the key change before he fumbles again.

He sighs heavily and drops his hands to rest on the bench beside him.

"Come on," I urge as I gently elbow him in the side. "You've almost gotten through this. I'll play it with you an octave up."

He nods and gulps nervously before setting his hands on the keys. I play the two measures before and he jumps in at the key change.

This time he doesn't stumble, in fact, he glides through it effortlessly and keeps on to the end of the song.

"See, that wasn't so hard," I say as he finishes the last chord of the piece. "No need to beat yourself up over it. Just be patient."

I stifle another round of laughter as his cheeks flare up like a Christmas light. He yanks his glasses off and runs a hand through his shaggy bangs. For a moment my laugh cuts off as he looks over at me with those large blue eyes.

"So how'd you get your hands on my sheet music anyways?" I ask as I busy myself with pulling my mass of hair over my right shoulder.

"O-oh, it's yours?" he asks as he scrambles to give it back to me. "S-sorry, I found it on the ground under one of the chairs in my music theory class."

My brows rocket into my hairline as he shoves the music into my hands. I had no idea this guy knew anything about music, and it was surprising that he knew how to play the piano this well, much less that he took a music theory class.

It looks like almost everything I thought I knew about this guy is wrong. And I have to admit that this kind of dorky shyness is really refreshing, and kinda attractive. Which is really weird because I mean, I do have a boyfriend and all.

But everything about him is so different compared to Chad. He's got something really unique that I can't help but like. And who knows, maybe I might take him up on those tutoring sessions.

"I'm ah…sorry about today, Avery."

I look up from the sheet music and at him. He's put his glasses back on and is rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"What are you talking about?" I mutter as I set the music down on my lap. "It's not your fault that Ms. Carter's a bitch. And I'm sorry I was rude to you."

"It's ok," he mutters, flinching slightly at me referring to our teacher like that. "I'd act like that too if someone was always comparing me to someone like me. I mean… I-Well…If that makes any sense…uh sorry..."

"It does," I giggle as I glance up at him through my lashes. "And if it makes any difference, I think I seriously misjudged you. I thought you were a total snob at first, but you're actually really sweet Will."

He flushes at my words and I immediately break out into a wide smile. Giggles erupt from my throat and I try to stifle them with my hands. But they just keep coming.

"Sorry," I eventually gasp. "William is a bit of a mouthful, do you mind if I just call you Will?"

"N-no," he stammers as he looks down at his hands. "Now I feel like I should have asked if I could call you Avery."

"Don't worry about it," I say with a lazy wave of my hand as get to my feet. "I hate being called Avrellia anyways."

I tuck a lock of my hair behind my ear, not really knowing what else to say to him. A somewhat awkward silence hangs over us for a moment, and I'm about to just turn around and leave when a question falls over my lips.

"Hey, are you going to the party tonight?"

"Well, it's not really my kind of party," he says as he fixes his gaze on the ivory keys. "I don't think I'd have that good a time."

"That's a shame," I say as I fix the hem of my oversized knit sweater. "Then I guess I'll see you when the break is over?"

He nods as he fumbles to pull another set of sheet music from his bag. I grin and make my way over to the door, pausing only as I grab the handle. I feel like I should say something else, but I don't know what.

"Ummm…Avery?" Will's timid voice comes from behind me.

"Hmm?" I ask as I glance over my shoulder.

"Well, I was just wondering if…well if you were still dating Chad Rogers?"

It takes a second for the question to sink in. But as soon as it does, a large smirk breaks out across my face and Will's face lights up like an inferno.

"I-I didn't mean it like that!" he stammers. "I-I just saw him last night when I was at dinner with my parents at Sage. H-he was with Chel Bryans, and it looked like they were on a date."

My body freezes, all previous joy draining from my system. My jaw goes slack and my tongue feels like a dead weight that takes up too much room in my mouth.

"W-what?" I stammer stupidly, my voice cracking slightly.

His eyebrows rocket into his hairline and the color drains from his face. His eyes lower to the floor and his shoulders slump forward.

"I-I'm sorry," he mumbles. "I shouldn't have said that."

His response snaps me out of my shocked state and I sallow hard. It takes effort to get past the lump in my throat, but when I finally do, I take a shaky breath and walk briskly back to the piano bench.

"No," I reassure him as I and squat down in front of him and meet his gaze. "Thank you for letting me know."

"But now I feel responsible for wrecking your relationship," he protests.

"You're not the one who's cheating on me Will," I say sternly. "In fact if you didn't tell me I'd still have feelings for that asshole."

"You mean you're over him just like that?" he asks cautiously. "I thought you really liked him."

"I did, when we first started out," I admit. "But a girl can only stand being stood up so many times, especially when it was the night of their anniversary. To be honest I think I started falling out of love with him a long time ago. I was just naïve enough to think things would get better."

"I'm sorry," he repeats again. "No girl deserves to be treated like that."

A small smile breaks over my face and I feel my cheeks warm. This is a compromising situation, but I really should hold off making a move on Will until I officially break up with Chad.

"Thanks," I reply as I get to my feet. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a shameless asshole to dump. See you around?"

He nods and I turn to leave, this time determined to actually make it out of the room. I don't want Will to think I'm a shameless flirt and start thinking I'm only rebounding on him because I found out I'm a victim of cheating. I have to do this the right way, even if it means waiting a few weeks.

But just as my foot crosses over the threshold of the room, I pause and look over my shoulder again.

"Will!" I call out, smiling as his head snaps up quickly.

"Y-yeah?" he stammers as he stands up from behind the paino.

"You're really cute without your glasses."

And with that I leave, not daring enough to stay and see his reaction.

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**XXx Author's Notes xXX**

**Well, Avery certainly is different than the kind of OCs I usually work with, but I admit I really like the way she turned out. So sorry I turned around and started a new story before moving on with Open Your Heart, but it was just so...ALFHBAOSHBFAYWBFUHEF...tempting...that's what it was.**

** I've had the idea for this kind of character for a long time but just couldn't come up with a good storyline for her. But some besties of mine, melodyxharmony, who own Cilla and Tia.**

**I think we've come up with something really interesting...**

**Well I hope I'll see you guys next time!**

**Lotsa love, Krystal **


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